See Change — I have always been a fan of Tim O'Reilly's phrase the “architecture of participation” to describe “systems designed for user contribution.” I liked it so much that at last year's OSCON I made this concept the focal point of a discussion about how Microsoft's products, programs …

Red Hat Statement on Microsoft Announcement — Eight years ago the U.S. regulatory authorities, and four years ago the European regulators made clear to Microsoft that its refusal to disclose interface information for its monopoly software products violates the law.

Welcome to the bigger, better, faster SkyDrive! — We know it's been mighty quiet on the SkyDrive blog, but we've been hard at work on a new version that we're proud to announce today! — You've made two things clear since our first release: You want more space; and you want SkyDrive where you are.

Disk encryption: Can you trust it? — Computer scientists have discovered a novel way to bypass the encryption used in programs like Microsoft's BitLocker and Apple's FileVault and then view the contents of supposedly secure files. — In a paper (PDF) published Thursday that could prompt …

TechCrunch, Peaking, Etc. — A lot of people write a lot of stuff that's pretty negative about TechCrunch. Since I don't actually do an ego monitor, we miss most of it. But every once in a while something bubbles up and I see it. Usually I don't respond because it just encourages more of the same.

The Chumby Is Open, but Not for Business — I find Chumby fascinating for a lot of reasons. Meant to replace a clock radio, it is a $179 device with a Wi-Fi connection, a 3.5 inch touch screen and a squishy leather case. It displays various widgets with information pulled off the Internet …

‘Optimus Maximus’ keyboard finally shipping — We're almost reluctant to post this because it's been promised (and not delivered) for so long. But, with our luck, the Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard will come out on schedule, and we'll be lambasted for not having passed along the news.

Question of the Day: Lenovo X300 or the MacBook Air? — An interesting battle is brewing between the upcoming Lenovo X300 and the MacBook Air. The esteemed Walt Mossberg has already threw in his two cents, and now you can too—complete with a fancy percentage breakdown. So which is it going to be?

Maritz joins EMC, to battle Microsoft in the cloud — Microsoft's cloud computing efforts have a formidable and familiar new competitor. — Paul Maritz, the former Microsoft platform boss, is becoming president of EMC's cloud computing initiative, which competes directly with Microsoft.